“Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired by Original Art”
Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired by Original Art has stories by many wonderful YA writers and drawings by Scott Hunt.
When a teacher aasks you to read short stories, check this book out. Each section has art work–a pencil drawing. Following the drawing are two stories that interpret that piece of art. It’s great to see what a creative mind comes up with–how different the two stories can be and how far they can venture from that beginning in the drawing (which is the point–the art is something of a prompt, but once the creativity gets going, the story takes on a whole new dimension). Some of the story writers happen also to be some of my favorite YA authors–Sarah Dessen, Bruce Coville, Neal Shusterman, Margaret Peterson Haddix, M. T. Anderson, and Alex Flinn. Judging from books that checkout here, I think these are some of your favorites as well. Other story authors are new to me–which is great because it gives me the opportunity to meet them and then find out about other works they’ve written.
I also want to recommend this book to you if you’re a budding writer. What sort of story will you write after contemplating the drawing? The art is just right to start those creative juices flowing.
Add comment January 29, 2010
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
I loved Speak and when someone told me that Twisted was Speak for guys, I had to read it.
The New York Times Book Review (Oct. 27, 2009) tells us that Anderson’s “novel Speak (1999) was one of the first seriously good books published for teenagers to be read widely by them. It tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a clanless outcast who barely endures her freshman year at a suburban high school, and it features one of the best young narrative voices this side of Holden Caulfield.”
So, did Twisted meet the high mark of Speak? Well, it might be too much to ask for another book that good by the same author, but I think Twisted comes close.
Tyler is a former geek with a geek best friend. At the end of his junior year, when he’s had it with being a bullied nobody, he spray paints graffiti all over his school. (He regrets misspelling ‘testicle.’) He’s caught. His punishment is to do community service hours with a landscape community. In doing so, he builds big muscles and gets a great tan. He begins his senior year looking beautiful and attracting the goddess girl of his dreams—Bethany Milbury, sister of the jock who antagonizes him, daughter of Tyler’s father’s boss. So, yeah, Tyler’s life is still complicated.
Tyler seems to be trending lightly, but somewhat successfully, between two worlds. That is until Bethany invites him to a wild party where she proceeds to get very drunk and asks Tyler to have sex with her. Of course, he wants to. But if he doesn’t, he thinks he can be a sort of hero to her, the good guy—and that she’ll really love him. But that’s not what happens. Especially not after sexually explicit pictures of an unconscious Bethany hit the Internet and Tyler is accused of this assault.
There are many good themes in this book—much about class privilege and the rich always coming out on top; teens making ethical choices; how teens are viewed as ‘bad’ people after one mistake; how rotten parents (Tyler’s dad is cruel and emotionally abuse) affect the course of a kid’s life—and whether the kid can alter that course. Twisted will speak to all readers, but especially to guys who are just trying to do the right thing.
Add comment January 22, 2010
“City of Ashes”
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (Book Two of The Mortal Instruments)
Here’s another Top Ten Teen Read of 2009—but with smart cover art and an intriguing title.
I read City of Ashes because it got on the top ten teen book list. I probably should have read the first book in the trilogy, City of Bones, but Clare does a good job of grounding the reader. Clary Fray is a Shadowhunter, which is a mortal who polices the ‘Downworld’ of monsters—werewolves, vampires, fairies (Seelies), witches and warlocks. Ordinary mortals are given the pejorative ‘mundanes’ and include Clary’s sometimes boyfriend, Simon.
Though Clary and Simon share an unbreakable bond, it’s really Jace that Clary has the hots for, mostly because Jace has that ‘bad boy who takes crazy chances and is angry at everyone’ thing going. Unfortunately, though the two were raised apart without knowledge of one another, they turn out to be brother and sister. Their father is the evil Valentine whose goal is to overthrow the Clave (Shadowhunter society). His reasons have to do with his hatred for all ‘Downworlder’ beings except Shadowhunters. He sees them as inferior monsters.
The arrogant Valentine engages a lot of powerful demons that mundanes can’t see. It is soon clear that he cares nothing for his own children if they disobey him, and could easily destroy them along with others in the Clave. So the battle is on. And it is fierce. Action is swift, bloody and described in detail. Demons are imaginatively described. As the plot twists, you’ll be hanging on for the ride. And here’s an added bonus: there’s lots of good writing—you can talk to your English teacher about the great metaphors and imagines. There’s a bit of lousy writing as well—when your English teacher lectures about how annoying a plethora of adverbs can be, bring this book in and get extra credit. (Clare can reconstruct any sentence to throw in pointless adverbs, making meaning stupefyingly [get it?] redundant.)
But so what—you’re going to be engaged—from cover to cover. And then want to go back and read Book One—City of Bones–and get on the waiting list here for Book Three—City of Glass.
Add comment January 20, 2010
“The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks”
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
A so-so cover that only has appeal after you’ve started reading the book and ‘get it.’
A so-so title.
And one of the top ten teen books of 2009.
How did that happen?
It’s a great read.
Frankie is a sophomore at a very exclusive private high school, Alabaster Preparatory Academy. She has the makings of the ‘ugly ducking turned swan’ cliché. But she’s also very brainy and wants to be taken seriously. (Her family calls her Bunny Rabbit.) When she meets the hottest senior guy on campus and he starts dating her, she is the envy of other girls on campus. This could be all they’d want. Not Frankie.
The guys in her boyfriend’s group belong to an all-male secret society called the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Frankie isn’t supposed to know anything about it, but she’s too smart and inquisitive—devious–not to figure out what’s going on. The Bassets are goofy and they mostly pull really dumb pranks—and most of these go unnoticed. Frankie is excluded because she’s a girl. She wants to belong—these guys she hangs out could also be clichés about the snobby, privileged guys who will go to Harvard and Princeton and run the rest of our lives some day. But they, too, are smart and likeable. We want Frankie to break the barrier and be part of their group. When she secretly infiltrates the Bassets and masterminds some great pranks, we think these guys will have to love her. But they don’t actually have to do anything.
“It is better to be alone . . . than to be with someone who can’t see who you are. It is better to lead than to follow. It is better to speak up than stay silent. It is better to open doors than to shut them on people.” The Disreputable History takes on not only boy/girl relationships, but class and privilege (the ‘old boys club’)—and, as a bonus, has a lot of fun with words and language. Frankie is an oddball girl with a quirky imagination. If you are tenured of stories (real or fiction) with girls erasing themselves for boys, you’ll identify with her.
Add comment January 20, 2010
“Readicide”
Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It by Kelly Gallagher
The dedication of this book states: “For those educators who resist the political in favor of the authentic.” So this is a book for teachers, and teachers of language arts will find it especially useful. (This review is directed primarily to teachers.) However, if you are a student who is doing any sort of research project on high-stakes testing (like STAR/CST tests) or on why teens don’t read very much, you’ll find this book useful. You can check it out from the textbook room (rather than the circulation desk at the library).
In his introduction, Gallagher, an English teacher from Southern California, introduces the term ‘readicide’ “because it cuts to the central ironic thesis of this book: rather than helping students, many of the reading practices found in today’s classrooms are actually contributing to the death of reading.” I agree with this premise, as do many folks who want to nurture a love of reading in teens (such as librarians and English teachers). Gallagher discuss how we can turn the trend around.
Basically, Gallagher uses data to show that school are more interested in nurturing test-taking skills than in nurturing a love of reading. We limit positive reading experiences; we overteach pleasure reading books (which should just be read, not studied!); we underteach classic books (so that they are too confusing–and students hate them and give up).
Readicide quotes Marzano (so what Gallagher discusses lines up with what teachers here at COHS are working toward practicing); argues that testing data is something beyond damn lies (as Mark Twain so aptly put it); that current practice leads to word poverty and a deficit of knowledge capital (it doesn’t matter if you can read the words if you don’t know what the writing is about); that we spend so much time teaching to the test, we can no longer study long, challenging works–and thus, students don’t develop higher-level thinking skills; and that SSR is necessary to allow students to build their prior knowledge and background.
Gallagher offers many suggestions and examples lessons for helping teens read books for pleasure without ruining those books with long reports and worksheet interruptions. He also shows how to approach a difficult text that requires teaching so that teens can still enjoy the ‘deeper meaning’ without getting either bored or lost.
There’s an appendix of 101 books that Gallagher’s reluctant readers love–these are current titles (and happily, I’ve read many of them–several are reviewed in this blog).
Add comment January 4, 2010
Here’s a review written by COHS student Jade:
“Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters” by Gail Giles gets five stars from me! If you’re in the mood for confusing but riveting mystery, this is a good book for you!
Sunny Reynolds’ older sister Jazz dies in a fire. Her mom is devastated–can’t eat or sleep, and has to be put on sleeping pills. Her father goes back to being a drunk. Sunny comes home one day to find a letter on the counter, and it said “from Jasmine.” It said she wasn’t dead, and she’ll be coming home on Sunday. Sunny tells her parents, and when Sunday arrives, jazz walks in the door. But this girl….didn’t look like Jazz, and Sunny knows it’s not her sister… But if it’s not Jazz, then who is it?
Read it to find out!
Add comment December 14, 2009
“Dracula”
Dracula by Bram Stoker
As vampire tales are so popular lately, I decided this summer that I would read one of the original vampire novels—Dracula. The author, Bram Stoker, created the character of Dracula by pulling together lots of myths and legends. Though Vlad the Impaler, a real man who lived in the 1400’s in Romania, was one of the inspirations for Dracula’s personality, there were others. In turn, Dracula as a vampire set the criteria for many years of vampire lore—can’t behold daylight, sleeps in a coffin, turns into a bat, has no reflection in a mirror, and preys on beautiful young women. Of course, he also has lots of sex appeal—and, very recently, this is the only vampire quality that survived in teen vampire literature. So—would you like to read a book about a vampire like Dracula? About potential victims who would prefer to die than be transformed into vampires? (So unlike that whining Bella of Twilight, who finally gets her wish. Think of it—now she can whine and throw temper-tantrums through eternity!)
My sense is that you might enjoy this read although there are things about the writing and the sometimes sentimental view of perfect Victorian angel girls that won’t appeal to you—you’ll probably speed through parts.
The greater measure of the book is written as journal and diary entries as well as letters. It begins with Jonathan Harker, an up and coming attorney, making a trip from London to Transylvania to meet Count Dracula and discuss Dracula’s purchase of some real estate in London. Several days into the trip, Harker knows that something is very wrong in the castle (seeing Dracula climbing the outer walls is a big hint), and that he is a prisoner. There are female vampires in the castle who attack Harker. This is pretty horrific stuff—the details aren’t as gory as those in current novels, but Dracula does give the women a baby to eat, and then when the mother of the child stands outside the castle demanding the return of the child, Dracula has a pack of wolves eat her. Harker manages to escape.
Once home, Harker will enlist others to help him rid the world of Dracula (who moves to London—remember the real estate deal?). The plot will involve Harker’s fiance Mina and her friend Lucy who is engaged and has had two other suitors. All three are good men and risk their lives for the women, as does Harker. Poor Lucy has a pretty rough time with Dracula and needs several blood transfusions, direct form the bodies of her friends (never mind the science of blood type. . .). Professor Van Helsing, a vampire hunter, is there to conduct all this business. He knows medicine and he know vampire lore. Should all their efforts fail, the men take an oath that they will not allow Lucy to suffer the fate of being a vampire—they vow to do anything—cut off her head, drive a stake through her heart—to ensure her the peace of death. They take these vows out of love for Lucy. (How different from Twilight!) Mina, being female, is also under threat.
There is a lot of exciting action throughout the book. However, the roles of the women are a bit off-putting—as I said, they are Victorian angels, and can’t get a whole lot done by themselves, although Mina is very, very smart. Being bitten by Dracula has the same sense of sleeping around—not fair. Another thing that bothered me over the long run (and this is a long book) was Van Helsing’s too frequent and very long speeches. You wouldn’t find this kind of pontificating in a modern novel. Still for vampires that are true to legend, and for suspense, this is a good book to read. I know that Bram Stoker is on the ‘author list’ for the senior project here at COHS. He’d be a good choice.
By the way—if you need to read a biography and are looking for someone whose insanity and cruelty is riveting, you could try Vlad the Impaler, one of the models for Count Dracula.
2 comments December 11, 2009
“1776″
1776 by David McCullough (Another title I read in keeping my promise to find good non-fiction.)
This is a great story written by a great storyteller. David McCullough has won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. (If this doesn’t mean anything to you, let’s just say this guy is among the best of the best American history writers.)
As a book about a momentous period of history, it’s short—under 300 pages excluding the endnotes—a factor that is often a deal breaker here at COHS. And its brevity is part of its success—it’s a tightly woven story of the trials and triumphs of George Washington and the Continental Army. The reader meets many players in the American Revolution from both sides of ‘the pond’.
Previously, I had only read of King George III as a madman, and was surprised to find him pretty reasonable in this account. I learned why the leaders of the British Army and Navy made some costly decisions that, on the surface, appear blundering and foolish, but on closer examination, had merit. I understood why Washington ‘crossing the Delaware’ is so famous an event. I even learned about William Lee, the slave who served with Washington, always by his side and in the thick of things.
Though the success of the American Revolution depended on many people—and they are given credit here—George Washington is the star of the book. He takes the most ragtag, miserable group of diseased, undisciplined men, who several times flee from battle (you won’t read that in your history book!), and wins a war for independence. Success didn’t follow a straight line, and many important battles were lost along the way, causing Washington to despair and his second in command (Charles Lee) to privately question Washington’s ability to lead.
1776 began so badly for Washington that he wrote to Joseph Reed (an adjunct general):
“I have often thought how much happier I should have been if, instead of accepting of a command under such circumstances, I had taken my musket upon my shoulders and entered the ranks, or, if I could have justified the measure to posterity, and my own conscience, had retired to the back country, and lived in a wigwam.”
Reed, along with Charles Lee came to criticize Washington for indecision—which was, as 1776 shows—a valid criticism. But Lee is the worst sort of backstabber. In an encounter that seems like it should have come from a fictional tale of intrigue, Lee wrote a letter to Reed about Washington:
“[I] lament with you that fatal indecision of mind which in war is a much greater disqualification than stupidity or even want of personal courage. Accident may put a decisive blunder in the right, but eternal defeat and miscarriage must attend the men of the best parts if cursed with indecision.”
This letter was accidentally delivered to Washington, who opened and read it! Imagine if you were risking your life, your reputation and the future of the colonies for independence and then found out that your ‘second in command’ guy is doing this behind your back! You’ll be surprised to found out what Washington does. (And don’t worry, fate will eventually deal with Lee.) Persevering through these kinds of trials points to Washington’s greatness. As I read, this story was one of the most memorable in the book because my mind linked it to the stories of some politicians today who whine about being criticized and then throw in the towel (or their job as governor), moving on to write their own scathing criticism of those who don’t agree with them. Maybe they should be reading this book instead of having their own screeds ghostwritten.
The other scene that stuck with me was the story of Henry Knox and the movement of cannons from Fort Ticonderoga (New York) to Boston. That’s 300 miles in the dead of winter—horrific conditions—with 120,000 pounds of artillery. This was amazing in that it was brilliant and almost impossible at the same time. It’s the kind of thing that inspires true admiration. Read it!
Add comment December 9, 2009
“The Siege of Macindaw”
I’ve said before that I love this series–The Ranger’s Apprentice. This is the sixth book. Will, the ranger’s apprentice of the series’ title, now has his own fief to protect. It is a cold northern area with little activity–at least in normal times–but it has strategic value as a gateway to Arulen. However, in the fifth book of the series, Will is fooled into trusting treacherous people. Now in book six, when the Castle of Macindaw has been overthrown, Will must save Alyss by recruiting the outcasts of the fiefdom, an apparent wizard, and his old enemies-turned-friends, the Scandians.
Lots of fun and magic tricks! I’m waiting for book seven, which I understand is the last of the series.
Add comment December 9, 2009
“Lies My Teacher Told Me”
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
This book was originally published in 1994 and was revised in 2007. I’d been thinking about reading it for a long time, but finally put it on the top of my list when I realized I should be reading more non-fiction because I had little to recommend to you.
And I do recommend this one! It challenged just about everything I learned in my history course (dinosaur days, yeah), and shows that not much has changed in the courses you are taking now—unless your own U. S. History teacher is challenging the textbook by sharing information with alternate points-of-view.
I’ve tried to have a clearer picture of American history by reading selections from Columbus’s journal (now, that was eye-opening—his own words prove him to be a vicious brute) and paying attention to alternate versions of wars and presidential policies. But Loewen tackles treatment of Native American (from Columbus forward) in detail; he dishes the dirt about American policies from the time of the Pilgrims forward. Did you know:
- Christopher Columbus did not discover that the world is round (lots of people already knew this)? He, with the Spanish explorers he brought to the New World, hunted and murdered Indians for sport and dog food? That he had the hands of Indians cut off as punishment for disobeying the Spaniards?
- Plagues had killed off so much of the Native American population before the Pilgrims arrived that those Pilgrims arrived to lands that were already cleared and ready to be populated (i.e., a lot of the hard work of ‘settling’ was already done)? That Squanto, famous for helping the Pilgrims, was not just an Indian traveler who happened to speak English, but had been enslaved twice by Europeans? That when he finally got home again, his tribe had been wiped out by a plague—probably a good reason for him to align himself with the Europeans?
- That John Brown was not mentally ill and/or deranged?
- That Abraham Lincoln, who was idolized when I was younger, and then demonized as a racist later (at least in some books I’ve read), was actually deeply thoughtful about race and country—and probably deserves much of the respect he receives (although for reasons more complex than textbooks allow)?
- President Woodrow Wilson (whom I’ve always thought of as a decent man because of his championing of the League of Nations) was an open racist who removed African Americans from all levels of government?
- Helen Keller was a ‘left-wing socialist’ who wrote extensively championing the common person?
- That several U. S. history textbooks say the same thing, almost word-for-word, as if they’ve all been written by one person with one point-of-view? (Unless they are plagiarizing from one another and no one has noticed!)
Lies My Teacher Told Me discusses lots of the stuff history book publishers are afraid to let you know about our history because they are afraid you won’t be able to take it—you’ll be unoptimistic about your future. (Hum. . .) The thing is—as bad as some these facts are—they are incredibly interesting. Loewen argues that if the facts were in your history books, you’d like the subject a lot more—and people of all ethnic backgrounds as well as both genders would have role model from the past.
There are people who won’t like Lies My Teacher Told Me. I read a review on it that stated, “To account for the deplorable situation, [Loewen] offers this quasi-Marxist explanation: ‘Perhaps we are all dupes, manipulated by elite white male capitalists who orchestrate how history is written as part of their scheme to perpetuate their own power and privilege at the expense of the rest of us.’” (Gilbert Taylor) These words are taken out of context as Loewen is asking a rhetorical question, and then answers that, no, it’s really unlikely that this is the case. Ironically, this is just the kind of ‘tweaking’ that Loewen is decrying.
Read it. You may be disgusted by the facts, but you’ll be fascinated as well.
Add comment December 8, 2009
